Straubing Attractions

A little way east of the Gäuboden Museum in Straubing's New Town are the Carmelite Church, built by Hans Stethaimer and remodeled in Baroque style in the 18th C. (tomb of Duke Albrecht II, d. 1397, behind the high altar), and the sumptuous Ursuline Church (by the Asam brothers, 1738).

From the center of the square in Straubing's New Town, Fraunhofergasse runs north. No. 1 is the birthplace of the physicist Joseph Fraunhofer (1787-1826) and No. 9 the Gäuboden Museum (prehistory, history of the town, folk traditions; the Straubing Treasure, a Roman hoard discovered in 1950).

This annual festival of Gäubodenfest is one of the most popular in Bavaria. The festival includes a funfair that attracts over a million visitors every year. Rides, games, entertainment, and food stalls make up the funfair.

In Ludwigsplatz is St James's Fountain (1644). At No. 11 is the Löwenapotheke (Lion Pharmacy), in which the painter Karl Spitzweg worked as an apprentice in 1828-30.

To the north of Straubing's New Town, on the banks of the Danube, stands the 15th C. Schloss.

To the north of Theresienplatz in Straubing's New Town stands the massive St James's Church (15th-16th C.; designed by Hans Stethaimer), with an 86m/282ft tower and a fine interior (15th C. stained glass, pulpit of 1753, old tombs).

In Straubing's Old Town, to the east of the New Town, is St Peter's Church (1180), a Romanesque basilica (towers built 1886), with a crucifix of about 1200 above the high altar. In the Kirchhof is the Agnes Bernauer Chapel (1436), with the grave-slab of Agnes Bernauer, the beautiful daughter of a burgher of Augsburg who became the wife of Duke Albrecht III against the wishes of his father, who then had her accused of witchcraft and drowned in the Danube. Nearby is the Totentanzkapelle (1486; ducal burial vault), with frescoes of the Danse Macabre (1763).

To the west of Straubing's New Town lies the Stadtpark (Municipal Park), laid out in 1905, with the Tiergarten (Zoo).

In the center of Straubing's New Town, between Theresienplatz in the west and Ludwigsplatz in the east, rises the 68m/223ft high Stadtturm (14th C.; views). To the north of this is the Gothic Town Hall (1382), to the west the Tiburtius Fountain (1685) and the Trinity Column, set up in 1709 after the town had successfully withstood a siege.